Chapter 22: Monday, August 9, 2010

Monday, August 9, 2010

“It’s day seven for the second wave,” Jake said. “Your capacity to read emotions, thoughts, and desires has manifested fully. Even Julie and Carol are nearly there. Now that you have developed the raw capability, you are ready to learn how to use it. We’ve already gone over the basics, so let’s work on something more advanced.”

Jake took a drink of his Coke and set it back down on the kitchen table.

“When you get a chance, I encourage you all to go out into public. Hang around different places, around different kinds of people. Everybody is unique. Learn as much about people as you can. I became a better person because of the hours I spent getting to know and understand people. I would like for all of you to experience the same thing. It is one of the benefits that I had in mind for you all when I decided to give you the gift of mind reading.

“We haven’t talked about it yet, but you are at the point where your mind-control skills are emerging. Mind reading is an ability that, like sight or hearing, you will come to use without thinking about it. On the other hand, you have to intend to control others. For the rest of the morning, we’ll be working on mind-control skills. Julie and Carol, I’ll let you run along if you want. You can listen in, but the skills we’re working on haven’t yet come in all the way for you.

“But we can still do it some,” Julie said. “You could snip out your little rings and let us learn what we can. After the lesson, you can put them back into place.”

That possibility hadn’t occurred to Jake. He looked up at Kara and Leanne who were sitting at the island observing the class. Leanne shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t see the harm in it,” Kara said. “Count on Julie to push things as far as she can, though.”

Julie stuck her tongue out at Kara.

After a few moments of looking for but failing to find a downside, Jake nodded and removed the rings from their transmission nerves.

“Done,” he said. “Julie and Carol, you are now on board for this lesson. Don’t expect to do as well as the others for a few more days yet. I’ll reinstall the rings when we’re done.”

Julie nodded enthusiastically

“Let’s start,” Jake said. “Our first task will be to make someone feel a specific emotion. Just like with mind reading, you can work intuitively or neurologically. We’ll work with the intuitive level today. You don’t have to feel the emotion you want to send. It is sufficient to have it in mind. The first step in sending emotions is to learn the knack of imposing it on your target. Read me as I send an emotion to Kara.”

Jake sent affection to her. He did it slowly and deliberately. She beamed a smile back at him.

“Did you catch that?” he asked the students.

“It was like you were pushing it at her,” Alice said.

“I can see why you got that impression,” Jake said. “In my mind, I imposed it on her consciousness. I don’t think it matters which metaphor you choose. What does matter is getting a feel for doing it. You’ll have to stumble around until you find an approach that works for you.

“Notice one other thing — perspective matters. I wanted Kara to experience my affection for her, but I didn’t actually send her my affection. Although I often talk that way, it’s really a kind of shorthand. I pushed into her mind the warm feeling you get when you are aware that someone is fond of you.

“If I had sent her the affection that I felt for her, her mind would have interpreted it not as an emotion directed at her but as her feeling affection for some other person. She would have perceived that she was feeling fond of someone else, producing a very different result.

“It will become quickly obvious to you that the better you understand how people manifest emotions, the more effective you will be at projecting them.

“Watch again,” Jake said. “I’m going to send an emotion to Leanne. Notice both what I send and how it affects her.”

Jake sent her the earthy, robust sexual desire that he felt for her. Leanne blushed, looking simultaneously pleased and exasperated. Nina giggled.

“So tell me what you saw,” Jake said.

“You didn’t lust after her,” Shannon said. “What you sent made her feel happy to be desired and claimed.”

“Right, and what I sent her was very different from what a woman would have sent a man to make him feel desired.”

“How?” Nina asked.

“Go out and watch couples flirt. You’ll pick up the specifics of it. It will vary from guy to guy but for men with the usual sexual instincts, they will experience a sense of flattery and supplication.”

“Ewww,” Nina said. “How egotistical.”

“Men are pigs,” Jake said, “Sadly, we’re the only other gender out there. My point is that if you want to make someone feel any given emotion, you have to understand how it feels from their point of view.”

The doorbell rang. Annabelle wiped her hands on her apron and headed for the front door.

Jake scanned the visitor.

“Shit! It’s the Council,” Jake hissed. “Everybody, scatter! Whatever you do stay out of his range. Try to stay out of sight, too.”

“Come with me,” Leanne said to the others. “We’ll listen in from Jake’s room.”

Leanne hurried out of the kitchen with the others close behind.

Annabelle, wait, Jake sent her. Give everybody a chance to hide before you open the door.

After a few seconds, Jake heard his bedroom door close.

It’s okay now, Annabelle. You can let him in.

Jake watched through Annabelle as she opened the door. The visitor was an old man, tall, slender and white-haired. He asked for Jake Fielding.

Your name, please?

Mr. Hamilton.

Please step in. I’ll let him know that you’re here.

Annabelle appeared in the doorway.

“Jake, there’s a Mr. Hamilton to see you.”

“Thanks. Annabelle, I need you to disappear until I tell you otherwise. Why don’t you go to your room.”

“Yes, Jake.”

Annabelle disappeared down the hallway and Jake went to the front door.

“Jake Fielding?” the man asked.

He’s not a mind reader, Leanne sent.

Jake scanned the man’s mind-reading circuits. They were mostly dark. He chided himself. That should have been the first thing he checked. If the visitor had been a mind reader, Jake might already be under his control.

Good catch, Leanne, Jake sent. Everybody else, don’t let your guards down. Watch what happens. The more we can learn about this guy the better.

“That’s me,” he said.

“My name is Mr. Hamilton. I am the emissary of the Council. I am here to give you your orientation.”

It looked like the Council was going to play hardball, Jake thought. He pushed down the urge to panic.

How shall we play this? Jake sent.

Is there anything to be gained in cooperating with him? Boris asked.

The Council might cut Jake more slack, Alice sent. They’ll be less likely to punish him.

Let’s see if we can find out the answer to that question, Jake sent. Alice and Nina, watch his conscious thoughts. Keep an eye out for anything useful. Shannon, dig into his memories. See how he normally conducts orientations. Kara, look for memories of times he has reported back to the council after he finished an orientation. See if we should be worried if we don’t cooperate. Boris and Leanne, give me any suggestions you have about how we should deal with him.

Hamilton was waiting patiently for Jake to respond. Jake chastised himself for not having a predetermined strategy and a cover story ready for this eventuality, especially since he knew that Grubb had planned to recommend that Jake be given his orientation early. Jake decided to play for more time and more information.

“You’ll have to tell me what you mean by that,” he said.

“You have already met our Mr. Grubb. I believe he explained it to you.”

“I remember a Mr. Grubb. I remember that he said a lot of crazy things and made outrageous demands. He was also very rude. If you’re like him, I doubt that this visit will work out the way you intend.”

Hamilton chuckled. “That’s Mr. Grubb. He’s not known for his mastery of the social graces. But however unpleasantly he may have acted, I’m sure that the information he provided you was accurate.” Hamilton looked around the entry hall, including the sculpture Jake had brought back from France. “I think there’s no question that he was right, that you are an emergent telepath with strong control abilities.”

“Because I live in a big house?”

“Yes, actually. It is persuasive evidence at the least. It is typical for telepaths to surround themselves with luxury.”

“It’s not mine. It belongs to others. I just live here.”

“Again, typical. A mind reader with even modest intelligence conceals his nature behind others — people for whom the ownership of such assets is plausible. But please, let’s not argue about it. There is other evidence — your father’s message to the council, the way you tormented Mr. Grubb. Can’t we just accept that you are who and what you are, and let me do the task I have been sent to perform?”

“I guess there’s no reason to deny that I have certain unusual skills, but even so, I don’t see why I should submit to your orientation. After what Grubb said about this Council, and considering how he behaved, I think that it would be better if your Council left me alone. And I’ll do the same with them.”

“Sadly that is not an option,” he said. “Mr. Fielding— Can I call you Jake?”

“I suppose.”

“Jake, let’s sit down. I’ll explain why independence isn’t possible for mind readers. The way the Council arranges things makes sense when you know all the facts.”

Jake led him back to the kitchen and offered him a drink. Hamilton accepted a cup of coffee.

“Jake, the Council makes sense because the only alternative to their governance is for the strongest, most ruthless telepaths to dominate the weaker ones and then fight among themselves for supremacy.”

Hamilton went on to describe, much as Jake’s father once had, how telepaths were susceptible to being put under the control of other telepaths and how there was no defense other than taking control of potential rivals first.

“By bringing all telepaths into the organization, by making them all accountable, and by giving them clear boundaries — both geographically and behaviorally — telepaths are free to operate within their own sphere as they see fit, safe from the predations of others. Surely what a telepath gives up is more than compensated for by the security he gains.”

Jake stopped himself from pointing out what telepaths were doing with that freedom since the only way Jake could know that would have been from his father.

“What am I expected to do if I join this organization?”

“That’s what I’m here to explain today. Basically, you will be expected to obey the laws and protocols of the Council.”

“And if I refuse to listen to you?”

“I am just the messenger. I’m not here to convince you of anything. If you refuse to cooperate then I will simply go back and report that outcome to the council. But I don’t know why you would. What’s the downside? You’re out a couple of hours. No more. The alternative is to provoke a conflict with the Council. Why do that unnecessarily?”

It’s hard to argue with that, Jake sent.

I don’t see what would be gained by refusing the orientation, Leanne sent. It gets us more information and doesn’t commit Jake to anything.

“If I do join, what would this council expect me to do?” Jake asked.

“The whole point of the orientation is to explain that,” Hamilton said. “Let’s get started. You will want to take notes.”

Jake got some paper and a pen from his schoolbooks.

“First and foremost,” Mr. Hamilton said, “each telepath reports to one member of the Council. In your case, you have been assigned to Philadelphia, Wilson Greenlee.”

Jake felt reverence from Hamilton.

“Philadelphia Wilson Greenlee?” Jake asked. “That’s an odd name.”

“No, his name is Wilson Greenlee,” Hamilton said. “Let me explain. Since every telepath is given a region of the country as his own territory, it is common among telepaths to refer to themselves by their major city. Mr. Greenlee is Philadelphia because his domain is the greater Philadelphia area — southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware.”

Hamilton recited Greenlee’s address and telephone number. Jake wrote it down.

“Each member of the council has 15 or 20 telepaths reporting to him. The address and phone number get you to somebody on Lord Greenlee’s staff. It is unlikely you would actually talk to Lord Greenlee himself.

“The titles Lord and Lady are reserved for the members of the Council. It is protocol to use their titles when you speak to them. It is also proper when telepaths refer to Council members between themselves.”

“But not so with other mind readers?” Jake asked.

“No, the telepaths will address you as they would any normal person, although it is not uncommon for one telepath to refer to another by his city name.”

“Don’t you think that when the Council go around calling themselves lord or lady that it makes them sound — I don’t know — arrogant, conceited and self-important?” Jake asked.

Hamilton’s disapproval was strong.

“They are the members of the Council, Mr. Fielding. They are above the rest of the telepaths. They are very far above me. Such gestures of respect are the least we can do to acknowledge that.”

Jake scanned Hamilton’s mind and found the control that produced Hamilton’s attitudes. The control was directed at Greenlee alone, not the other members of the council, although Hamilton’s attitude toward the other members was colored by a certain amount of reflected glory.

Jake was about to point that out to him when Boris interrupted.

Hold on a second, Jake, he sent. You’ve limited their knowledge of your abilities so far. You should keep it up. It’s a significant tactical advantage.

But Hamilton says that they know Jake has strong control abilities, Kara said.

What they suspect and what they know for sure are not necessarily the same thing, Boris sent. The battlefield is shaped by intelligence. Don’t give them any more information than you absolutely have to.

Jake decided that Boris made sense.

“I’ll tell you what,” Jake said. “I haven’t yet seen any reason to respect the Council as much as you obviously do, but I’ll keep my opinion to myself for the time being.”

Hamilton wasn’t mollified. His friendly expression had changed into that of someone contemplating a cockroach.

Jake sighed.

Hamilton continued. “You are instructed to produce a report in which you describe your education, the members of your family, and your assets as well as the assets of everyone in your household. Also describe your income sources.”

“So everything I have is theirs?”

“You have two weeks to submit your report to Lord Greenlee. You will then be notified of the amount of your levy. The levy is a monthly obligation allocated to you and the other mind readers to fund the operations of the Council. In addition, the Council may at various times give you tasks to perform. Both the money and the tasks will be a routine part of your obligation to the Council, just as it is for all telepaths.”

Hamilton removed a compact disk from his briefcase. He opened the sleeve containing the disk and removed a sheet of paper.

“This disk contains communications software. You will obtain a computer that is compatible with it. The requirements are listed on this printout. It also shows the login information to access the Council’s virtual private network. You will use this software to conduct teleconferences with the Council, its staff, and other telepaths. The software is encrypted. Do not assume that telephones are secure. Make no reference to telepaths or telepathy when using them. Especially do not mention our existence over insecure media such as cell phones. Don’t discuss the Council or telepathy over the Internet unless you use our software. Learn how to use the software to communicate securely. Breaches of security will result in harsh disciplinary measures.”